As we read the works of nineteenth-century atheists, we find that they were not particularly concerned to prove that God does not exist. These atheists tacitly assumed God’s nonexistence. Instead, they said that after the Enlightenment, now that we know there is no God, how can we account for the almost universal presence of religion? If God doesn’t exist and human religion is not a response to the existence of God, why is it that man seems to be incurably homo religiosus—that man in all of his cultures seems to be incurably religious? If there’s no God, why is there religion?
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Maybe it began earlier than the 1950s and '60s, but those decades seem to mark the rise of the fascination with youth in American culture. The famous line that celebrates all things young, often wrongly attributed to James Dean, declares, "Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse behind."
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"How does the sovereignty of God relate to our daily lives? We understand from Scripture that God is sovereign, that He rules and reigns over all things for His glory and the good of His people." But as soon as prayer and God's sovereignty are set side by side, we run into difficult theological questions. After all, if God is sovereign over all things, why should we even bother praying? If all things work together for good to those who love God, shouldn't we content ourselves with whatever God sees fit to give us? In the coming days we will post a series of articles by R.C. Sproul in which he addresses these issues head-on. This is the fifth and final part of the series.
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If I have heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times: "A Calvinist evangelist? Isn't that an oxymoron? Calvinism undermines evangelism." This accusation has been repeated so many times that few make the effort to argue it. Instead, it is simply assumed.
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We need to make some important distinctions about the biblical meaning of "fearing" God. These distinctions can be helpful, but they can also be a little dangerous. When Luther struggled with that, he made this distinction, which has since become somewhat famous: He distinguished between what he called a servile fear and a filial fear.
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The doctrines of grace are so called because these five major headings of theology, often identified as the five points of biblical Calvinism, contain the purest expression of the saving grace of God.
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When the gospel is proclaimed, it seems at first sight that two different, even alternative, responses are called for. Sometimes the summons is, "Repent!" Thus, "John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 'Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Matt. 3:1–2). Again, Peter urged the hearers whose consciences had been ripped open on the day of Pentecost, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 2:38). Later, Paul urged the Athenians to "repent" in response to the message of the risen Christ (Acts 17:30).
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